In recent years business communications have relied increasingly on exchanges of electronic or E-Mail via desk top or portable computers. Generally speaking E-Mail constitutes a store and forward service for transmission of textual messages transmitted in machine readable form from a computer terminal or computer system. The message sent from one computer user to another is stored in the recipient's mailbox or post office until that person next logs onto the system. The system can then provide for retrieval and delivery of the message.
While this form of communication is now in widespread use, employees and business people in general have been prone to employ less than adequate procedures to protect the confidentiality of many business communications. While most business people recognize that a written document provides a relatively permanent record, they mistakenly assume that an E-Mail message does not. In fact, most E-Mail messages today are readily copied, printed or forwarded, without the sender's knowledge or control. Also, techniques exist for finding and capturing old E-Mail messages that may be stored or once were stored on disk drives in any one of a large number of networked computers or servers. As a result of these factors, it currently is very difficult for a business to ensure that there are no E-Mail messages containing confidential materials or inappropriate comments, which later might be discovered and retrievable by other parties.
While the patent literature contains certain discussions of aspects of electronic document management, it fails to address the particular problem outlined hereinabove.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,899,299 and 5,051,891 to MacPhail, respectively entitled Method for Managing The Retention of Electronic Documents in an Interactive Information Handling System, and Method to Manage Transfer of Ownership of Electronic Documents Stored in an Interactive Information Handling System, issued Feb. 6, 1990 and Sep. 24, 1991, discuss document retention and deletion methodology. Although there is no express mention of E-Mail, the text suggests that the documents range from memos and messages to long reports. The originator of a document specifies an ownership expiration date, and the enterprise operating the system establishes an expiration date. An algorithm causes deletion of a document from storage when a particular relationship exists among the current date and the two expiration dates. For example, the system deletes a message if the current date is later than both of the expiration dates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,540 to Greco et al., entitled Method and Apparatus for Selecting and Playing a Voice Mail Message, issued Oct. 22, 1996, deals with displaying voice mail message information and playing voice mail through a computer speaker. The disclosed system may provide a display of messages that can be merged into a single list, including E-Mail messages. As an additional feature, this patent suggests that if a sender does not want the recipient to copy the message for further distribution to others, the sender may designate the message as "Private." The system does not allow copying of such a "Private" message from one mail box to another.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,954 to Thompson et al., entitled Automated Message Retrieval System, issued Jun. 19, 1990, discloses an automated message retrieval system. A computer automatically performs various procedures, including deletion of the retrieved messages from storage in the message service computer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,234 to Edwards, Jr., entitled System With Software Usage Timer and Counter for Allowing Limited Use but Preventing Continued Unauthorized Use of Protected Software, issued May 7, 1991, pertains to prevention of continued unauthorized use of protected software. Copies of software are installed for a limited time. If the software is not registered within the time limit, the software is disabled. The system provides a notice indicating an impending software "Self-Destruct" in the event of failure to register.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,834 to Howard, entitled Method and Apparatus for Reconciling Different Versions of a File, issued Feb. 4, 1997, deals with reconciling different versions of the files stored in computers at two or more separate locations or sites. Howard utilizes journals or logs of work performed on each file.
Numerous E-Mail applications or programs are currently available commercially. Many of these applications come from personal computer software companies. Examples include Word Perfect Office, Lotus Notes, CCmail, Microsoft Mail, etc. In the computer conferencing area a number of systems have become available. These include Lotus Notes EIES 2, First Class, and SuperKOM. The available systems, for the most part, provide deletion of messages only upon positive action of the recipient or upon the volume of stored data reaching some predetermined threshold. However, SuperKOM has a provision for deleting messages after a certain time unless the user has taken positive steps to so mark the messages as to prevent deletion. SuperKOM has both a personal data base for each user and a common data base for all users connected to the same server. Users of SuperKOM can use search keys on messages in the central data base. Such keys are one way of stopping messages from being deleted. It is also possible to protect messages from being purged in the personal data base of an individual SuperKOM user.
However, these capabilities fall far short of satisfying business needs for managing and protecting the confidentiality of electronic mail communications. Those needs include capabilities to control not only the circulation of messages or electronic documents by the originator, but also the usage of the documents by the recipient for further dissemination and storage. Thus there is an existing need to provide to an E-Mail originator or sender the capability to control the ability of the recipient to copy, forward, print, and store the document. Still further, there is a need for an erasure procedure that goes beyond deletion and precludes recovery.